Spoiler-Free Review

If you’re looking for a queernorm fantasy world loaded with dragons, monsters, heists, diverse characters, flying ships, and sapphic romance, you might like The Sky on Fire.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

What’s The Sky on Fire about?

Anahrod was cast out of the dragon-ruled sky cities as a teenager and has spent the last seventeen years surviving a harsh jungle. Now her past has caught up to her, and a gang of misfits seeking to steal from the dragons has dragged her home.

I loved the worldbuilding, but it mostly meandered through the middle.

The story is split into ten parts. Parts 1 and 2 had me in a chokehold – I was absorbing the story as fast as I could and piecing together the worldbuilding. It dropped us straight in without info-dumping, which gave me plenty of discovery to do (my favorite part). And while we’re on that note, the worldbuilding? Exquisite. Unique. Chef’s kiss, excellent, well-done.

Side note: I loved that our main character is in her thirties. That’s refreshing.

One of the best aspects of this story was the queernorm nature of the worldbuilding. Not only were there plenty of prominent gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters, there were many trans characters, too. Characters displayed their orientation and identities through sets of rings, which could also denote marital status, occupation, and other relevant information that might prevent awkward social faux pas. I loved this.

After those first couple parts, part 3 slowed down the pacing a lot, and I struggled with it. From there, it was a mix of backstory and setup that felt a little uninteresting to me. I was ready for the plot to continue forward. There were parts here and there that got my attention, but I mostly wasn’t hooked through the middle. Then the end felt a little quick, and things wrapped up fast.

My overall view is that the book tried to be too many things at once for a standalone. It was an epic fantasy here, a romance there, a heist story – but didn’t weave these things together as seamlessly as it could have. There were things I really, really loved, and others that left me wanting. It might actually have benefitted from being a series, if only to give each element more breathing room.

Should you read The Sky on Fire?

I recommend it to fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree, and maybe fans of Eragon, as well. I also recommend it to anyone who is okay with a slower plot in exchange for superb worldbuilding. It does have a sprinkle of sapphic romance (and little polyamory), but these are subplots and don’t feature heavily. It’s not spicy.

Mark your calendars: this one releases July 9th, 2024!